Groningen, Netherlands

Intercultural Competence for Students

Businesses know that productivity depends on a work force that is socially and emotionally competent. If you want to become successful in a diverse world, a large part of that success will depend on your ability to communicate and negotiate among diverse cultures.

Intercultural competence is considered one of the top 10 work skills needed for the workforce of the future.It entails recognizing cultural differences, understanding how these differences influence interaction and maximizing that knowledge in order to minimize misunderstanding.

This summer school is a structured training based on a developmental approach to building intercultural competence, regardless of your current level of cultural understanding. The offered program will be taught by a senior practitioner in the field with more than 10 years’ experience in intercultural training development and delivery and will cover everything from cultural stereotypes to cognitive and communication styles.

What is it in for you?

Gain a deeper insight into your own culture
Learn more about different behavioral and communication patterns
Share critical intercultural incidents and best practices
Develop your own intercultural competence by doing exercises, games and simulations
Learn how to deploy intercultural competence development in your academic and/or professional field(s)

Course leader

Drs. Michaela Carriere

Target group

This summer school is intended for BA, MA and PhD students. Prior knowledge of the field of intercultural communication is preferred, yet not necessary.

Course aim

After this course you will be able to:

- Better understand the differences between cultural stereotypes and cultural generalizations.
- Recognize and deploy different styles of communication.
- Gain a theoretical understanding of intercultural competence development.
- Gain a deeper insight into your own culture.

Credits info

0.5 EC
Upon successful completion of the program, the Summer School offers a Certificate of Participation that mentions the workload of 15 hours (28 hours corresponds to 1 ECTS). Students can apply for recognition of these credits to the relevant authorities in their home institutions, therefore the final decision on awarding credits is at the discretion of their home institutions. We will be happy to provide any necessary information that might be requested in addition to the certificate of participation.

Fee info

EUR 175: Participation fee